5 Conditions That Could Be Linked to Allergy

Allergy doesn’t always look like sneezing and itching once the trees and grasses start to bloom. When exposed to allergens, the body responds with inflammation, and that can be the start of a lot of other conditions – like eczema, asthma, headaches, sinusitis, irritable bowel syndrome, and more.

Eczema

Eczema (also called atopic dermatitis) can occur from both environmental and food allergens. When exposed to problem allergens, the body can respond with dry, itchy, red, flaky, inflamed skin patches. It can also come from an irritant that you are allergic to. For example, if you’re sensitive to an ingredient in a lotion, you may have a reaction after application.

Asthma

Asthma is often correlated with environmental allergies because when pollen is breathed in, it goes directly to the lungs. It can cause inflammation right there, leading to chest tightness, cough and wheezing. While you may have asthma year-round, allergy-related asthma can flare up during your problem allergy seasons.

Headaches

The head has four different sinus cavities, and when environmental allergens are breathed in, it can cause fluid to build in the cavities. It causes a lot of pressure, inflammation, and headaches throughout the head.

Dr. Theodoropoulos of Allergy Associates of La Crosse has also studied the link between food allergies and headaches and found that after successful allergy treatment, headache days can be dramatically reduced.

Sinusitis

For similar reasons to headaches, repeat sinusitis can be environmental allergy related. Inflammation occurs after breathing in environmental allergens and causes fluid to build in the sinuses. This fluid building and sitting in the sinuses can cause infection that leads to facial pressure, cough, fever, congestion and more.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Irritable Bowel Syndrome can be an outcome of both environmental and food allergies. When you breathe in environmental allergens, they can move to the digestive tract and cause inflammation and irritation. The same can happen when a problem food is ingested. There may be additional clues that show it’s allergy-related – like if it shows up seasonally, or if it’s accompanied by itching, headaches, fatigue.

Treating it all at once

When there’s an underlying allergy, you can experience many of these conditions – but one treatment may help them all. By treating the cause of allergy at hand with sublingual immunotherapy or allergy drops, your body learns to not react to problem allergens.

At AAOL, providers use allergy testing, exam and history to determine the specific level of sensitivity to offending allergens. They may recommend allergy drops following The La Crosse Method™ Protocol, which slowly introduce the body to the problem allergens. Over time, the amount of allergen is increased, and the body learns to not react when exposed.

If you’re interested if allergy drops could help you feel better, schedule a consult at AAOL.